


The Remote

by shootingcookielover



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Unsympathetic Anxiety | Virgil Sanders
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-30
Updated: 2020-08-30
Packaged: 2021-03-06 14:27:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,556
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26190379
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shootingcookielover/pseuds/shootingcookielover
Summary: The remote looked like it belonged there, right in between the other two - the one that didn't work and the one that controlled the TV."What do you think it does?", Roman asked as he picked it up.Virgil shrugged. "Only one way to find out, right?"The creative side pushed a button and, elsewhere in the mindscape, Janus woke up feeling... Odd. Different, somehow. There was a persistent itch under his eyes.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 29





	The Remote

When Janus woke up, he didn't quite know why. His alarm hadn't rung yet and it was all in all way too early to get out of bed.

Yet he felt... Odd. Different, somehow and there was a persistent itch under his eyes.

With an annoyed groan he rubbed at his face, only to halt all movement.

That was decidedly not his glove-clad hand. There wasn't a single glove in sight. Those weren't his sleeves either.

Panic spilling over, he swung his legs over the side of the bed and sat up to inspect himself.

He was clad in Virgil's clothes for some reason.

He felt bile climb up his throat as he made his way over to the mirror. Staring back at him was Virgil.

"What... How...", Janus reached up to his face, tentatively brushing his fingers against the left side. No smooth scales were there to greet him. Only skin.

His vision suddenly and without warning faded. When it came back only seconds later, Logan stared back from the mirror in front of him.

Janus yelped and jumped back, stumbling over his feet and landing on the floor with a dull thump. He stayed on the floor for a bit.

His hands trembled as he brought them back into his field of vision. Still glove-less.

He looked down at himself and he was still wearing a short-sleeved black shirt with a striped, blue tie. He reached up and there was a pair of glasses perched on his nose.

The way it felt like it belonged there made Janus sick.

As quick as he could he got to his feet and moved over to the door. Before he could even reach it, his vision faded again.

When it came back, Janus only glanced down after a calming breath. Patton.

The light blue shirt, the grey cat-hoodie around his neck. Definitely Patton.

His hand almost painfully cramped, Janus pushed open the door to his room.

He glanced down either hallway, noting that they were empty before walking down towards Logan's door.

If anyone could help him figure out what was going on, it was logic. Janus also didn't feel particularly comfortable letting anyone else see him like this.

Roman's mocking words still echoed in his head and he really didn't need that right now.

Careful not to pay attention to the still ungloved hand, he knocked on Logan's door.

He didn't dare talk, knowing full well that it was Patton's voice that would come from him, instead of his own.

Just as the door swung open, Janus' vision faded once more. When he could see again, he was staring into the face of a very bewildered-looking Logan.

"Logan, I need your help.", Janus blurted out, his voice that odd lilt of Remus'.

He glanced down and, yep, he was definitely the Duke.

"..well, I'll do my best, Remus."

Janus wanted to scream. "I am not Remus!", He whisper-yelled instead.

He threw one last glance down the hallway, then he pushed past Logan into the logical side's room. "I'm Janus! And-"

Before he could finish his sentence, the world faded to black and back.

He looked down and saw Roman's outfit staring back. Not literally, of course, that would be more Remus' style.

"-this keeps happening to me!", He gestured down at himself, on the verge of hysteria.

"That does seem rather... Annoying. Tell me, when did this start?", Logan began circling Janus.

"I don't- I don't know exactly. I just woke up, but instead of me, I was Virgil.", He explained, trying to adjust his gloves and finding them missing. Right. He missed his capelet.

"You just woke up?", Logan questioned, throwing a meaningful gaze at his clock. It was 10:24 in the morning.

Janus shrugged, pulling at the sash around his torso. "I'm not a morning person! And that's not the point of this conversation!"

He let out a frustrated yell as the sash fell back into place.

"I apologize for getting distracted. So all of this started recently, as far as we know. Have you tried changing back?"

Janus rolled his eyes. "Have you tried changing back-", he repeated mockingly, only to come to the realization that he had, indeed, not tried that.

Trying to be as covert as possible he rectified that mistake now. 

"It's not working.", Logan observed and scribbled something down on a notebook he had gotten... Somewhere.

"Oh, really?!", Janus snapped, as his vision faded to black and he came back as Virgil again. "I hadn't noticed!"

"I find that unlikely.", Logan commented before scribbling down more. "Presuming you aren't doing this to distract me, there must be some outside-factor that is doing this to you. Is there anything you've done yesterday, anything you've eaten or witnessed that would grant such an outcome?"

Janus bit down on the urge to hiss, knowing full-well it would come out as Virgil's hiss and not his own. He reached up to rub at his temples and thought.

"Nothing in particular.", He replied. "I was doing the usual routines; checking the doors, talking to Remus, feeding my snakes."

He groaned in frustration. "Nothing that would cause... This!"  
As if on command he faded again. Once more, he was Remus.

"Interesting.", Logan mumbled and wrote down something else. "You don't think Remus could be behind this?"

Janus shook his head, pulling at the laced sleeves of Remus' outfit with something akin to disgust. "This isn't Remus' style."

Logan frowned as he thought. "Perhaps it's one of the others doing this?", He mused, "They should be downstairs for their daily viewing of Parks and Rec."

"You want me to go downstairs and face them like this?!", Remus disappeared to make room for Patton and Janus let out a cry of almost despair. 

"I do not see another option to figure out what's wrong. Do you?"

Janus let out a grave sigh as Patton and breathed in as Logan. "I suppose not.", He bit out through gritted teeth.

His arms, blank and uncovered, felt uncomfortable like that. But yet somehow it felt also oddly right, which just made it worse.

Logan nodded. "Alright then, follow me.", He said as he stepped outside.

Janus followed the logical side outside.

On their way down, Janus switched from Logan to Roman to Virgil again to Patton and finally back to Logan.

"It appears to have increased in frequency.", Logan observed and scribbled something down.

"What's increased in frequency?", Patton asked from next to the stairs and glanced up. Then he froze.

"Logan...?", He asked.

The logical side waved, as Logan faded once again to return as Remus. 

"What's going on?", The fatherly side nervously asked.

"Remus, what are you doing here?!", Roman yelled from the couch. Virgil wasn't too far from the creative side, glancing up from his phone.

"As much fun as this is, I am not Remus.", Janus clarified, annoyance tinting his voice. "I'm Janus."

Patton exchanged a glance with Roman and Virgil. "...Janus...?", He asked tentatively.

Janus nodded. 

"We don't know what's happening to him, quite yet. He seems to change appearance at random."

"Although it seems to have stopped.", Janus added, inspecting Remus' outfit closer for the first time in his life. Did that thread just--

His head snapped up and he decided that not paying attention to Remus' clothes was the best choice he'd ever made.

Roman and Virgil had gotten up from the couch now, walking over to Janus, Patton and Logan.

"Wait, seriously?", Virgil questioned as he looked Janus up and down through narrowed eyes. "How do we know it's not a trick or something?"

Janus groaned in annoyance. "I can assure you, this is very real!"

Roman shook his head. "I don't know, Virgil's got a point."

"Well, Janus might need our help, so we can't just stand by and do nothing!", Patton exclaimed.

Janus could have kissed the moral side. He didn't, of course, but the thought crossed his mind.

"I suppose...", Roman conceded. 

"Fine, I'll bite!", Virgil snapped, rolling his eyes. "When did you start... Changing?"

Logan interrupted. "I already asked and, apparently, he woke up as you a few minutes ago."

Virgil blinked. "A few minutes ago...?", He looked over to Roman and they both had that look in their eyes. That look that made Janus' stomach squirm with unease.

"How long ago, exactly?", Roman questioned now.

Logan looked to Janus and Janus sighed. "I don't... Maybe half an hour?", He guessed.

"Roman, isn't that when you and Virgil found that remote?", Patton asked quietly.

Roman slowly nodded.

Janus glanced between the three of them, suspicion laced into his gaze. "What remote?"

Virgil turned around to jog back to the couch and picked up a TV remote that Janus had never seen before. "This one.", He clarified.

Janus stiffened. "You don't think--", he couldn't bring himself to finish the sentence.

"Only one way to find out!", Virgil answered and pressed a button.

Immediately, Janus' vision faded and suddenly he was Patton.

"It is the remote!", Patton cheered. "Now we can figure out how to get Janus back to normal!"

"Yes, if you don't mind!", Janus held out one, still ungloved hand towards Virgil.

Virgil who now had a devious smirk on his face. "What if instead we did... This!", And he pressed another button.

Janus felt the sudden urge to punch himself in the face. Which he did. "Why would that even be a button?!", He yelled at noone in particular.

"That does seem odd.", Logan remarked.

"Virgil, kiddo, you should give Janus the remote. It's not nice to control people like that.", Patton remarked.

"Yeah, seriously. This is hilarious and all, but it can't be pleasant.", Roman commented, still fighting the after-effects of laughter.

"It's not!", Janus replied, carefully touching the tender flesh of his cheek.

"Oh come on, this is the perfect opportunity to have some fun!", Virgil disagreed and pressed another button.

Janus jerked around and slammed right into Logan. 

"Virgil!", Patton yelled in a disapproving tone.

"What?", The anxious side asked, entirely unbothered. He pressed another button.

This time Janus felt... Felt...  
Everything was spinning... Or maybe he was spinning... Was he spinning...? What did that even mean...? Everything was hazy and confusing... And...

Janus snapped back into consciousness. He was staring up at Logan who watched him with concern lining his features.

"It worked!", The logical side called over his shoulder as he helped Janus up.

"What worked?", Janus asked, confusion still tingling down his gut. Then he felt the strong urge to punch himself. Again.

"Stop doING THAT!", He shouted in Virgil's general direction.

His face had probably already started bruising.

"Yeah, Virgil come on give me the remote!", Patton coaxed.

"No!", Another button was pressed and Janus stood up suddenly to do a jumping jack.

"Who programmed that thing?!", He hissed. A hiss that wasn't his own. He shuddered a bit.

"It's not funny anymore, emo nightmare!", Roman added, eyeing the false Patton's bruising face.

"Oh don't tell me you're siding with that snake now!", Virgil snapped as he pushed another button.

Janus was grateful that all it did was change him into Roman. Even though it still made him feel sick with... Wrongness.

He really just wanted to be himself again, to be in control of himself again.

"Don't tell me you've already forgotten all that he's done! He deserves this, he deserves punishment!"

"Nobody deserves this!", Logan interjected, adjusting his glasses.

"Oh what would you know about that, you Robot!"

Another button was pressed and Janus ran face-first into the next wall.

Roman winced. Seeing himself do that was rather disconcerting.

Logan stiffened and didn't answer right away. "Give us the remote, Virgil.", He then said, voice cold.

"Yeah, kiddo, you've had your fun!", Patton helpfully added.

Virgil sneered as he pressed one more button, just as Roman tackled him.

Janus, who had sunk to the ground next to the wall, bent over and threw up. He heaved and breathed heavily as he wiped off the residue from his face.

He glanced up to find Virgil and Roman fight over the remote.

Another button was pushed - accidentally, by Roman.

Janus' nose started to bleed. Profusely. He brought up a hand and tilted his head back, trying to stop the blood.

Another button threw him into a violent coughing fit, spraying blood everywhere.

Yet another button and Janus couldn't open his eyes anymore.

Finally, Roman got the remote and was standing tall and proud, sword in hand. 

Virgil huffed and stuffed his hands into his hoodie's pockets. "So you got the remote.", He said, clearly upset. "See if I care."

And the anxious side disappeared. Patton looked between where Virgil had gone and Roman, visibly conflicted. Roman shook his head and walked over to Janus - or, rather, Logan, whom he looked like at the moment.

He still had a nosebleed and his face looked really bad.

"I got the remote.", He informed the other side. "What do you want me to do with it?"

"Dessssstroy it!", Janus hissed, even though his tongue was as human as it could be.

Without thinking it over much, Roman smashed the remote on the floor.

Janus' nosebleed stopped and he could finally open his eyes again. Then, ever so slowly, Logan's form gave way to Janus'.  
The snake-like side looked down and embraced himself with a relieved huff. 

"Don't do that ever again.", He remarked, clearly upset.

"Sorry.", Roman said as he helped the other side up. "I can't imagine how horrible that must have been! I don't understand how Virgil could just... Do that!"

Patton shuddered. "Maybe... Maybe he had a good reason...", He mumbled.

"I doubt there is a reason good enough to justify this.", Logan interjected and gestures towards Janus, his pajamas were drenched in his own blood and there were still bruises spreading across his face.

Patton flinched and, with a conflicted expression, sunk out.

"Well this was the worst morning I've had in a while.", Janus commented and snapped himself into clean clothes. "I'm going to eat breakfast. Do you want to join me?"

Roman shook his head. "I already ate.", He explained as he wandered off to the couch.

Logan, meanwhile, shrugged. "I have yet to receive satisfying amounts of nutrition."

He was on his way to the kitchen when Janus stepped in front of him.

"I'm making breakfast.", He sternly decided.

Logan was confused by his serious tone but didn't argue. He didn't particularly enjoy cooking, but he was one of the only sides capable of producing edible meals.

He plopped down next to Roman on the couch. The princely side had already turned the TV on and was watching some Disney movie.

Mulan, Logan's mind supplied.

"Why, do you think, did Virgil do that?", Roman quietly asked the logical side. It was clear the prince wasn't really paying attention to the movie, wasn't even singing along. The creative side was shaken from the morning's happenings.

Logan shrugged. "I can't say. Perhaps there is more to Janus' and his relationship than previously thought. Perhaps...", But Logan didn't want to end that sentence, so it hung between them, unfinished. Neither was willing to acknowledge that option, not yet.

Later, during breakfast, a pale and trembling Patton joined them.

Janus wordlessly heaved some pancakes on the fatherly side's plate.


End file.
